Archive for the ‘Summer’ Category

An incredible new product is ready to launch here on campus and change the way that Stanford innovators are able to promote their work. Stanford Founder’s Showcase, or Stanford FoSho for short, is a platform designed to help Stanford developers gain recognition for their creations, let the rest of us to see the cool stuff that our fellow students are building every day, and provide dynamic, relevant content for life on the Farm. The platform will host student-built mobile apps, websites, and video, and will be available for download in the app store by the end of July.

Got an app? FoSho is opening its first round of submissions.

As developers know, the app store has become a sea of over 700,000 apps, each competing to get on the “featured” page to drive downloads. Without serious help in the right places, even the best apps can fail to get recognition, slowing their growth and limiting the hype they deserve. With this in mind, we envisioned a platform that was the first stop for any Stanford innovator when trying to get their creations airborne, providing valuable recognition from the Stanford community and useful feedback from the world’s techiest campus. The win-win here is tremendous: developers get to hit the ground running with their innovations and Stanford students get a sneak peek at the next generation of the world’s best apps.

The platform is designed with a built-in feedback tool for users to rate their experience, giving the developers analytics and data which provide much deeper insights than the App Store. Even cooler – users don’t have to update the app to receive and access new content, meaning new stuff goes straight into users’ hands. Once we receive and approve an app, we plug it into the platform and it appears on the user’s device in real-time.

The first two pages of the app will be split into “Around Campus” and “Developer’s Club”. All the apps and mobile sites pertaining directly to campus life will go on “Around Campus”, while other Stanford-built apps and cool stuff will go on the Developer’s Club page. We’re still working on a third page which will change all the time depending on the time of year. Fall quarter will likely include resources for frosh, football, and other autumn-y things for life at Stanford, for example.

But we need to start from somewhere. Step 1 is to scour the area for apps being built right now and launch version one of Stanford FoSho, so we are hereby opening our first round of submissions for the platform. Calling all Stanford developers: we want your apps! You can be a current student, recent grad, or anyone working on an app meant to serve the Stanford student body. Below are instructions on how to submit:

Despite the antagonistic title, this post is intended to help give Stanford students – especially frosh and sophs – a leg up on finding positions this summer.

You may wonder why I think I can help. Allow me to rewind to the Kristi of 2009.

In fall 2009, when I entered Stanford, I was not just a n00b. I was the n00biest of n00bs. The Grand Poobah of n00bs. You see, two weeks into my Stanford career, I strutted into Stanford’s Computer Forum Fair with my CV. And oh, what a CV it was.

Freshman Kristi believed that “MOAR information is ALWAYS better!”, so my whopping six-page CV included every accomplishment ever in my entire life leading chronologically backwards to the “progress card” comments from my early childhood development center. Which is just a fancy way of saying “preschool.” Looking back now, it’s pretty comical, but at the time I naively thought, “awww yeah, everybody’s gonna wanna get a piece of this ‘good listener’ who ‘likes to share’! Get at me, Google!”

Needless to say, I showed up first at the HP booth, where the well-intentioned rep kindly suppressed giggles long enough to provide some editing advice. I pedaled forlornly back to Stern, trying to keep the metaphorical tail between my legs from getting caught in my bike chain.

Young padawans, I’ve been there and done that so you never have to. Below I’ve listed my top tips for finding the job that works for you this summer. I don’t claim to know nearly everything, though, so fellow old-timers are welcome to supplement my advice in the comments! Hopefully this is a good starting place. Happy exploring!

Lists are also just generally a good way to keep up with campus events!

Get on lists!

Student groups and departments alike have email lists galore which are a goldmine of opportunities. The best places to look are minority or special interest groups that are specific to you, like SWE, the Women’s Community Center, SSCLES, the Native American Cultural Center, and SBSE, which often have specific recruitment lists that you can sign up for. (Forgive me if my examples tend towards techy offerings – it’s what I’m most familiar with!)

Undecided between different departments? That’s totally fine! In fact, it might be even better: the more lists you sign up for, the more chances you’ll have at finding your dream summer job. Not too shabby. (more…)

If you’re Taylor Burdge ’16, the answer is 3,886 miles and 19 states. This past summer, Taylor participated in a program called Bike and Build, which organizes cross-country bicycle trips to benefit affordable housing groups. She raised $12,145 for the cause, which was 270% of her original fundraising goal, and went all the way from Portland, ME to Santa Barbara, CA.

Talk about a full summer.

Essential to the trip were its 13 build days, in which Taylor and her fellow 32 riders pedaled to local housing groups to supply them with manual labor for their projects.

The tasks she and her fellow bikers undertook were not for the faint of heart: reconstructing a convent that would become a 10-family home, weed whacking and building sheds, putting up siding, using a 10-caliber nail gun to build compartments for building supplies, and demolishing a building that was going to be turned into apartment complexes.

“Bike and Build is wild. I have no idea where I’m sleeping tomorrow, what my next meal will be, or even what town I’ll be in. But the constant change keeps everything exciting.”

Bikers for hire.

This was not a slow crew, either. Taylor and her fellow riders would normally get up before 5:30am, and their typical pace was 15-18mph. The group even developed their own vernacular. Riding 100 miles in one day was called a “century ride.” Every three mornings, the bikers would go on a “rando-ride”…their numbers were randomly drawn from a hat, and they would ride with the corresponding group to avoid getting cliquey.

Taylor also kept a blog of her travels over the summer, which I urge you to check out. The posts are moving snapshots of America. If you quickly scan through them, you can watch the climate palpably change as she goes further south and west. You can picture her pack of merry builders battling heat, saddle sores, and flat tires, and hitting speeds of up to 50mph on downhills as they spend five weeks in the middle of the desert.

Like the Lebron of old, Christopher Nolan choked this summer. Here, Bane does some choking of his own.

With The Dark Knight having been as awesome as it was, I went into The Dark Knight Rises with very high expectations. The former had managed to find the fine line between drama and comic book movie (a line which I didn’t know existed, mind you) and one could only imagine that Christopher Nolan would create something even more magical, having found this cinematic sweet spot. Unfortunately, Nolan, being aware of how great The Dark Knight was, decided to make its successor essentially a clone of itself on steroids, weakly building on its strengths while exaggerating its weaknesses. TDKR tried to capture the subtle brilliance of TDK’s lengthy dialogues, the eerie believability of its action scenes, and the sensitivity of its more delicate moments, yet managed to be somewhat cheesy in its rendition of all three. It felt somewhat synthetic, as if the strengths of a great movie were being bulked up for a box office-smashing sequel. It’s sort of like the Mitt Romney of this summer’s movies; from afar, it seems to walk the walk but is much more staged and awkward at closer examination.

Don’t get me wrong – this was still close to as good as a comic book movie can get. The sheer awesomeness of the first two in this series makes us forget that we are still dealing a film in the same franchise as Jonah Hex, Green Lantern, and a few other disasters. Having not seen the first two Batman films, I would maybe even have clapped at the end of this movie as 200 people at the premier I went to felt compelled to do. However, knowing the ability Christopher Nolan possesses to create a film which is both visually and intellectually thrilling for the entirety of its runtime, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed overall and even slightly cheated at times. Please excuse a quick caps lock moment – ****SPOILER ALERT**** – alright, presuming I’ve scared away those who haven’t seen it yet, let me more specifically discuss what I mean:

Simply put, the movie was too long. Action movies need not (should not?) be 2 hours 45 minutes. I don’t think the adrenal gland – action movies’ best friend – is designed to keep grooving for that long. It felt as if Christopher Nolan had set a hard goal on this number, because I feel a lot of the movies’ problems could have been solved by cutting down some of the more mundane parts. There were dialogues and sequences in the middle of the movie that felt excessive and superfluous, and plot twists which featured the unfortunate double-whammy of being both difficult to follow and difficult to stay awake for.

I wanted to appreciate the heartfelt monologues doled out by Alfred numerous times in the movie, but found my more perverse Batman-fan side yearning to see stuff get blown up. I wanted to understand what the deal with the prison-well thing was, but couldn’t figure out for the life of me why every single person wasn’t escaping from the prison if you just needed to jump. (You’d think they’d be doing squats in their free time) I tried to calculate how long it would take the Federal government to do something about Bane in the absence of any law and order in Gotham, and decided it would have been much shorter than the months it seemed that a crew of rebels and deadbeats had the city on lockdown. I even wanted to believe that Bruce Wayne appearing at the very end after seemingly sacrificing himself, the ultimate okey-doke in feel-good action movies, wasn’t just Christopher Nolan securing future revenue streams with a disappointing and sickeningly predictable plot twist.

Instead of shooting each other with their assault rifles, the Good Guys and Bad Guys ran at each other all Lord-of-the-Rings-like. Bizarre.

Even the allusions to the struggle of the rich vs. poor felt half-hearted. While Catwoman’s various comments throughout the movie are clearly a parallel to the Occupy Wall Street movement, I’d prefer it was either discussed in more detail or not mentioned altogether rather than such a nuanced and controversial topic be glanced over as carelessly as it was.

Again, all of these are examples of things The Dark Knight did well. TDK managed to combine well-written and well-executed dialogues, a plodding narrative which took the perfect amount of time to develop, bits of social commentary that felt honest and genuine, and non-stop action which made the hair on your neck stand up, due to both how breathtaking it was and how real it seemed. The newest version tried to one-up itself on all of those measures, leaving much to be desired and a sense of Christopher Nolan having missed his chance to think outside the box.

In fairness Catwoman was cool, but ends up playing an awkward part-time role in the film, sort of like a summer intern at a big company. It’s a shame, because I would have really liked to see her and Bruce Wayne/Batman get weird. Just saying.

A couple days ago, I decided to break the time-honored tradition of napping until 9pm and actually spent my afternoon outside. I walked to The Claw and sat. Just sat and observed. And I sat on that stone bench for almost three hours, as sunlight, water mist, and teenage pheromones bathed my skin. Here are a few observations I made during that time:

Does Stanford attract more thrill-seeking cyclists during the summer, or are they more visible because there are fewer people on campus? I saw a least 4 different BMXers pass through my perch outside the bookstore. Gnarly.

9. People run

This is nothing new; Stanford students can jog year-round, thanks to almost-perpetual sunshine and ample trails. But I’m not just talking about the running club (which I was inadvertently part of, as they apparently meet near where I was sitting), but random people. In jeans. One was running to the post office, ostensibly to mail a package before it closed. Another because–I’m not sure. It looked like he suddenly realized he could get places in less time by simply moving his legs faster. If time is money, and running saves time, then these people were coupons still ridiculous-looking.

*These observations are not generalizations but merely my own personal ones that I have made this summer.

1. You take your life into your hands whenever you’re in a car as drivers think the middle of the
road is the way to go. Also, it’s not a complete day until you’ve been honked at least forty times.

2. You are greeted first by a hello, how are you, kiss on both cheeks, and a comment on how much
weight you’ve gained.

3. You can fist-pump to the break-up songs. At first, it’s hard to tell that the song is telling someone off and it’s unsettling to then hear “Shake your booty on the floor now” (inevitably in the remix).

4. People on the street are gladly willing to help direct you someplace or help you get out of a
sticky parking situation. However, smiling (especially in the grocery store) is seen as a sign of weakness.

5. The food is mouth-watering good everywhere and hole-in-the-wall, home-food places are best
(as in New York). Places to eat are so clean that even in the food court in the mall there are fresh, open salad bars and buffets.

6. The color of the ocean simply cannot be replicated and it is easy to see why the name is
turquoise, or “Turkish blue.” It is easy to scoff (especially when you’re from California) at those with surf boards asthere are no waves in Turkey.

7. The understanding of making a line at a bank or another established location is a circle.

8. The price of everything, from clothing to food, is negotiable.

9. It is a prerequisite that you must be able to sing and dance in order to become a Turkish
citizen. You must also know the lyrics to Turkish songs as questions about that are always asked on game shows.

10. In almost anyTurkish home you enter someone will be able to read your fortune from Turkish
coffee grinds (“fal”).

11. The concept of personal space is a foreign one in Turkey. Wherever you are, someone might be virtually sitting in your lap and not even notice it.

12. When you are going to watch a show at night settle in because you’ll be there for the long
haul, at least three to four hours. When asked if the show is still on the answer will always be yes. (It’s no wonder when on the Turkish version of Wheel of Fortune one of the slots is “tell a secret” and song and dance breaks are taken frequently.) Also, during commercial breaks, you can indeed make a sandwich, take a shower, visit a neighbor, and still be in time for the next portion of the show.

13. The relatively new law (2005) requiring accessibility for people with disabilities unfortunately falls short, as I personally witnessed this summer as I used a wheelchair. Almost everywhere is not
accessible and the ramps are of varying widths and scarily, angles. (Places from the movie theater and even an orthopedist’s office have a hill of steps and no lifts, ramps, or even handrails.)

Even with all of its quirks, it is a beautiful country to visit with much history, nice people, and amazing food. So hos geldiniz (welcome) to Turkiye!

In the Disney version of Snow White, the title princess is a bit, well, boring. Or is tame a better
word? This summer’s Snow White and the Huntsman throws all of that sweetness out the door and exchanges it for a fierce, feministic tale.

Snow White and the Huntsman is as grim as the brothers’ tales themselves. The story is the same,
young girl’s mother dies and father is taken in by beauty of a mysterious woman.

The twist is that Charlize Theron plays one of the most evil queens possibly ever to grace cinematic history. Sadly, Ravenna has a tragic past, and a few good points too, about how men in that time used women and disposed of them without a second thought. The problem? Ravenna and her creepy, equally evil brother have one too many screws missing.

Theron takes her role seriously, too seriously perhaps, as she channels Ravenna’s pain through her tortured stare and her rage as well. Theron is an exceptional actress, and this film no doubt belongs to her and Kristen Stewart (who plays Snow White), but it seems as though she is in a different movie as her performance is over-the-top.

Stewart is one of the most underestimated actresses of her era but she is given little to do in terms of dialogue. The saving grace to the unevenness in performances and film itself is Chris Hemsworth, otherwise known as the Huntsman. Hemsworth brings a necessary humanity and warmth that is otherwise lacking as both the lead actresses are a bit cold.

The special effects in Snow White and the Huntsman are excellent, as are the costumes. Theron
is stunning in articles like elaborate headpieces and even a long, black, feathered “crow” coat. These two aspects of the movie are worth seeing even though the film itself is far from perfect.

There are two last notes that are worth mentioning about the movie. First, the prince (or William,
the Duke’s son here) would have been better left out as he does not even garner a part of the movie poster. Rightfully so it turns out, as his role and consequence to the storyline are severely
limited. The love triangle in this way is lopsided. Second, the battle scenes could have lasted longer especially towards the end of the film (for example, galloping down a beach does not a fine battle make).

Overall, Snow White and the Huntsman takes on far more than many summer blockbusters as it shows the remnants of a war-torn land and gives us a fierce look at how strong princesses and queens can be. Sequel anyone (as it looks like there may be one)?

I previously wrote about StartX, a startup accelerator program that was created by some fellow Stanford students. It turns out they are now accepting applications for their upcoming class this Summer. If you’re an entrepreneur and attend Stanford or one of your teammates attend Stanford, check them out. They had many applicants for their Spring session and are now opening their Summer session to all those who wish to apply.

The rusted grass on the side of the road looked familiar, as if it had scratched the backs of my legs in a dream years ago. And the brush I must have run through, red powdery flowers staining my fingers as I scraped past—but it was too real to have been a dream. I’d traveled this road before (the car crawling up the highway) and I used to imagine my hands trailing on the road as we blew past the rolling hills of rusted grass and red-stained brush. They’d blister, like the sun on the roof of our car.

It’s hard for me to imagine just how big the great state of California is and in comparison the smallness of my town, my house, my microscopic room… and I had to leave my little niche in the world, the place I’d carved out. And yet, I realize that my parents cut out a piece of the world and set me in, let me grow bigger, helped me make that space my own as I grew into myself. I know that I’ve outgrown that cave. My head scrapes the ceiling, my legs press against the hard rock.

I ran my hands over the painted walls of the house, felt the creaking hard wood that screamed to the world I was awake at midnight on those endless Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Goodbye. I caressed the ivory keys of my piano next and mourned the end of my physical ownership of it—it will always be my parent’s piano now, the piano of my childhood, the piano I play when I go home… but never mine. The piano of Liszt and Beethoven and Turina and Debussy and even Bill Boyd (my favorite composer during those early years) is no longer mine, for I’m off to caress other keys, make other connections. But memories are just as solid as real things, if not more so; their heartbeats can be stronger than our own. Wait: I stand corrected. Emotional memories. The way it felt. The way it will always feel. (more…)

With all of the summer blockbusters, or lack thereof, out it can be hard to navigate and decide which ones are worth the ten dollars (sometimes even more with 3D, and they all seem to be in 3D). There is nothing worse than coming out of the movie theater disappointed, with a headache, or even worse, frustrated due to the lack of fluidity and feasibility in the plot. Leave that last feeling at the door and just enjoy yourself when seeing Cowboys and Aliens and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. First up, Cowboys and Aliens is a fun, albeit strange, ride. There is some good fun with the Clint Eastwood-esque gun-wrangling, bar-clobbering cowboys but throw in a bunch of random, funny-looking aliens and you have got an interesting blockbuster (I was going to say “movie” but decided against it). All in all, Harrison Ford is at his best again and Daniel Craig is not too shabby to look at. There are plenty of seat-jumping parts as well. The best part possibly? When the cowboys are about to have a throw down and all of a sudden in fly the alien ships! Next up, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. When I saw the previews for this film at the start of the summer I said to myself with a snort, “I am not seeing that.” My bias stemmed from flashbacks to the cheesy Mark Wahlberg remake and I had only heard of the original with Charlton Heston. I thought, “Eh, what the hay,” and took a chance. I was pleasantly surprised. I found myself actually rooting for the apes sometimes (I am sorry, but they do not turn to violence until pushed and *spoiler alert*: humans actually bring the virus that wipes out mankind and leads to ape rule on themselves). Caesar, leader of the apes, is more sympathetic than many of the people in the film. There are even some obvious questions brought to light about how far invention should go and how finding compassion and kindness for those who are different than us can be difficult at times. Standouts in the film? James Franco does a solid job in a role that generally seems to fit him-vulnerable protagonist. Tom Felton also does a wickedly good job as a spoiled, mean son of an animal shelter’s owner. One last thing, the CGI effects really are amazing.

Tudo bem, Stanford? I write to you from Brazil, where I have spent the past seven weeks working for a commercial real estate company in São Paulo.

Before the Brazilian winter ends, I intend to write a couple posts about my observations and experiences here. The first will give some timely updates on the state of Brazil’s economy, with a focus on what I have noticed in person. In a later post or multiple posts, I shall address Brazilian culture, the Portuguese language, and some overall takeaways from my time in Sampa. All questions and comments are welcome.

Robust Economy

São Paulo (SP) is unquestionably booming. Lots of construction–particularly of high-rises and large shopping malls–and a flourishing nightlife indicate the city’s increasing wealth. SP is a car-centric city; even the poorest households in the C segment favelas will have a car. Every gas station provides ethanol. As in the U.S., credit cards are accepted at almost every place where you could conceivably spend money, except at some cheaper restaurants. Unlike the U.S., nearly every card transaction is conducted with a portable point-of-sale, separate from a computer or centralized system, which frequently makes the transactions faster.

Furthermore, Brazil’s unemployment rate just went from 6.4% to 6.2%. Residents of SP work as hard and long as New Yorkers, and they have a strong sense of national pride and Brazil’s increasing importance in the world. (more…)

Ok, for those of you who aren’t obsessively checking their calendars like I am, this week marks the midway point of summer. Yes people, summer does come to an end and for many of us, we are in that odd point of the summer where many of our friends are prepping to return to school while an endless august stretches out before us.

But don’t freak out, September isn’t here yet, which means there’s still plenty of time to get the most out of the summer before returning to the Stanford grind.

So we at TUSB are bringing you Back-to-School Boot Camp (and for people who aren’t fans of the military, please don’t get up in arms about the name, it just sounds good), just our small way of helping you—our valued readers come to school being the best you can be (ok, no more military puns, they’re just too easy).

First up, how to get the best out of the rest of your summer

This is something I’m struggling with personally, especially since my summer is ending much sooner than I’m prepared for. But to calm my anxieties, I came up with a personal To-Do list containing everything I want/need to do before the summer ends.

I considered posting my personal version, but at 33 “to-dos”, I thought for everyone else’s sanity it would be best if I didn’t. Instead, I’m doing a much better condensed version with 10 Most Important Things needed to have an amazingly awesome jealousy-inducing summer 2011.

Things TO DO Before School Starts:

10) Sleep!

9) Get a tan – Now I’m not advocating baking in the sun or lying under ultraviolet lights for extended periods of time. However, I am encouraging everyone to go outside. This is summer, so there’s no excuse for having the sickly pale skin indicative of staying indoors all summer staring at a computer. Save that for the school year when you have to spend 23 out of 24 hours at Meyer just to get through midterms.

8 ) See Harry Potter – I personally have yet too because I’m too much of baby to watch my childhood end with the final film credits, but everything must come to an end

7) Go on a Road Trip – Think of all those classic movies that extol the virtues of hitting the road and living life spontaneously. Follow in the footsteps of the greats, and create your own summer adventures that will create memories that will last forever. Even if you don’t have access to a car, be brave and see how far you get with public transportation (trust me, you will have stories)

6) Get your Notebook on (i.e. Find yourself a summer boo-thing) – Okay, so you maybe you’re not spending the summer by the beach where Ryan Gosling or Rachel McAdams are just hanging out, but you know you’ve had your eye on that cute co-worker for a minute. But unless you’re 1000% positive you’ve met you’re true soul mate, just make sure you prepared to leave he/she behind before school starts

5) Go to a concert – This is the height of concert season, so take advantage of it. See your favorite artist or band live, it’ll definitely be worth it.

4) Family Bonding – You’re not going to see them for a while, so do something with them, at least for a day. They’ll appreciate that time you took to spend with them, and this can also double as a great opportunity to learn how to do your own laundry.

3) Function with friends!

2) Get opinionated – Summer is the perfect time to get up-to-date on everything that’s happening in the world. Stanford is the ultimate bubble, which means we often are the last to know about major events, but that doesn’t mean we’re any less interested or invested in current events than folks in the real world. So take this time to read (for fun!) and discover what’s going on all around you.

1) Get you summer story together – When you get to school, the single-most asked question will be “How was your summer?’ Of course, you can answer with the standard “It was _______ (fill-in whatever adjective that works best)” but what people really want to hear is a great story. So before you step foot on Stanford’s campus, get together a 2-3 pithy anecdotes about you did so you can impress everyone you see.

I don’t want to cry wolf if anyone else still wants to be interviewed (stanfordblogging@gmail.com), but I think this might be the end of this series. It ends how it began with laziness (this time interviewing a drawmate), but hopefully I covered some breadth of experiences over some dimensions. So without further ado, here’s your last peek at what summer 2010 had in store for Stanford students.

Matt Blum

At a "traditional Munich beer garden." Matt is the guy in red. Unless German beer works as a Polyjuice Potion.

We (or at least me) here at TUSB can be somewhat self-centered and have grand ideas about the importance of our own work. Just like how psychology researchers will study how psychology research is done, bloggers enjoy writing about bloggers.

All of this is to say that we have a special edition of IKWYDTS today, meaning 60% more questions.

Willys DeVoll

Just before this picture was taken, Willys saw a unicorn off to the right of the camera

Well, it sounds like the summer is very near the end. Classes have finished, and in a week, many 10-week internships will also be done. I’ll try to stretch into the September hiatus, but we’ll see if I can continue to find people for that. As such, email us (stanfordblogging@gmail.com) if you know anyone who wants to be interviewed. Because of my own standing, we’ve had a huge bias towards rising seniors, so underclassmen need to get your voice heard!

Today, we’ve got the first person who appeared on my facebook newsfeed, Kesav.

Kesav Raghavan

He isn't really shooting anything; it was just the first thing he found to hide behind.